Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x01 - "Kobayashi Maru"

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

One thing that I've noticed with each successive season of Disco is that it feels more and more like a CW superhero show (with an actual high-budget!) in terms of tone and style. Everyone standing around or moving frantically as they volley technobabble at each other.

 

[fireproof78]

Which itself was ripped off from the original Star Wars film, which ironically despite being the most famous movie of all time has the worst portrayal of someone who just lost their home planet, with Leia barely grieving onscreen.

Fisher commented on that in an interview once that even she felt her reaction was muted but then that's not something touched on in acting school. How do you react to your whole planet being destroyed? That's an unfathomable event. Now, go act it out.

Of course, it would be very Spockian for him to say "I never took the test" when he damn near wrote it. And for Kirk not to realize or remark on that fact.

Well, when he makes that comment he is dying. Don't know if Kirk would have that rejoinder ready. For some reason.

 

[cooleddie74]

I'm just glad that her line of "And you call yourselves humans" was deleted from the final theatrical cut. Leia staring in horror as Alderaan is destroyed may not be Kirk melting down over David's murder but it sure beats the awful delivery of that one line.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I don't technically know if that counts as fridging, because of how uninterested Lucas was in Leia's reaction. It was about showing that Vader was a stone-cold killer, and how powerful the Empire was, nothing less, and nothing more.

*Tarkin. Vader kind of just stood there.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

So Nalas, the commander of the DS repair station, steals not only his name from another show, but his species too? @Mike McDevitt , I believe you're up.

His makeup strongly resembles that of a heretofore unnamed background species seen on the Cerritos in Lower Decks. Would this be a deliberate pull? one wonders how this is coordinated in the franchise. The Lurian this week is almost certainly the same prosthetic seen on the gangster Lurian(s) last season. Glad they're still around.

Mark

 

[Yistaan]

Every time I hear "President Rillak", I mishear it as "President Rellik" and think that she must be the evil murdering mastermind behind everything.

I think Burnham probably took some Academy courses, or maybe just the Command Training Program, and went through the Kobayashi Maru (remotely?) at that time. Spock may have skipped the CTP and was appointed a command officer by Pike and/or Spock after years as a science officer.

But, if Spock actually wrote the Kobayashi Maru (or adapted it from another program), perhaps at the Academy, maybe he wrote it in correspondence with his sister? The interpersonal timeline doesn't really work out though. Maybe she still took the test in her spare time to get a feel to what her brother was up to.

Of course, it would be very Spockian for him to say "I never took the test" when he damn near wrote it. And for Kirk not to realize or remark on that fact.

So Spock must have written the Kobayashi Maru to troll Burnham upon realizing she was considering command track and worked behind the scenes to make sure she takes it even though she was already an officer. Got it. Generations of cadets have gone through this demoralizing experience all because Burnham called Spock a weird little half breed.

In retrospect, the President was probably going easy on Burnham. She could've ripped her a new one saying "You're the reason why the Federation was at war with the Klingons for a century!", Picard on Sito Jaxa style.

 

[cooleddie74]

I think he's Antaran and they were originally from ENT.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I think he's Antaran and they were originally from ENT.

No, Commander Nalas was an "Akoszonam" in the episode, not an Antaran. This is the same species that we've seen (unnamed) last season and originally in the Picard short "Children of Mars".

Antarans have have a slightly different set of ridges and freckling, and have shown up that one time in Enterprise and loads of times on Lower Decks.

 

[cooleddie74]

Gotcha. Another case of Trek alien makeup being confusing. Thanks!

 

[Lonemagpie]

Amusing opening, annoying guest star, effective musical fanwank (the Enterprise theme tune gave me a moment!), Burnham getting straight up told she's basically Rimmer from the "Justice" episode, and nice variation on the end titles theme. There you go...

Am I imagining things or is the President half or quarter Cardassian - there's definitely a spoon on her forehead but it's not the full makeupt...

 

[cooleddie74]

I think she's part-Cardassian and part-Bajoran judging from the ridges on the nose.

 

[crookeddy]

Bad reviews already pouring in, but no surprise because this is Discovery.

 

[nafeasonto]

Did anyone see the cute little Tribble crew member walking around lol

 

[Yistaan]

Am I imagining things or is the President half or quarter Cardassian - there's definitely a spoon on her forehead but it's not the full makeupt...

So if I remember my DS9 lore, that means that the President's constant arguing with Burnham was her trying to romantically pursue her?

Did anyone see the cute little Tribble crew member walking around lol

Tribble: SQUEAK!
Admiral Vance: Hey!
Culber (scans Vance): Mike, this man is a Klingon!
(goes into a panic attack as he remembers the last time he met a human who was a Klingon)

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

One thing I want to add is that while the show fills more sure of itself, it still suffers from the same issues Disco has had with the writing since the beginning... like moving on from an interesting thread.

 

[nafeasonto]

Sorry I just love that there is a Tribble crew member:

https://imgur.com/a/mf0ETwh

 

[cooleddie74]

DSC may remain - for me anyways - the weak link in the Trek series franchise for a while if not permanently. They sort of boxed themselves in early on with the original time setting and how they were going to write the characters and it's taken four years to get this far. Time will tell.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Tribble: SQUEAK!
Admiral Vance: Hey!
Culber (scans Vance): Mike, this man is a Klingon!

Vance: "Uh, yeah, my dad was half-Klingon. What of it?"

 

[Noah_23]

They're already making great use of the volume screen virtual sets. The Kelpian council chamber and the Federation hall felt huge and open and made the budget feel even bigger than usual. It's nice that they no longer have to redress the damn mess hall and brig sets every time they want to show a non-hero room.

 

[Saul]

Into Darkness' beginning is amazing. That sounds like high praise.

Of all the Kelvin movies, I really really like Into Darkness, but the Kelvin movies as a whole I have a problem with. If I was watching 'Star Trek Discovery' in a theater I might look at it more positively or forgivingly but as a series I'm just wondering, who is the audience? It's supposed to be the prime timeline but everything about it, especially the tone and the action just screams Kelvin timeline. It comes across as "generic Sci-fi show" than a Star Trek show.